1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope camera having improved camera head positioning accuracy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hard endoscope cameras have been used in various fields, such as medical and industrial fields. Such an endoscope camera is required to have the function of changing the direction of the field of view of the endoscope camera according to the intended use and an object to be observed. A conventional endoscope camera is thus provided with a mechanism for changing the imaging direction of an image pickup section (the direction of the field of view of the endoscope camera) according to the intended use and an object to be observed. Recent advances in the performance of endoscope cameras have complicated drive mechanisms for endoscope cameras and have created a demand for extremely high camera head positioning accuracy.
For example, such a hard endoscope camera is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-327916.
However, in conventional endoscope cameras, the position of a cover relative to a camera head is determined by the cover and a hard case. Especially an endoscope camera with an elongated hard case has looser cumulative tolerance when a camera head is mounted and has lower accuracy in positioning a spherical center of a cover and an optical axis of the camera head relative to each other, which causes the problem of image quality degradation.